


(Just Want To See You) Smile

by FranticJumpingBean



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Yami Yuugi | Atem has his own body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 06:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12647760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FranticJumpingBean/pseuds/FranticJumpingBean
Summary: One step back but two steps forward.Or the one in which, Atem waxes poetry about Yugi!





	(Just Want To See You) Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: this fic contains copious amounts of self-indulgent fluff!
> 
> Also, I think Atem hijacked my word doc towards the end.
> 
> Seriously though, this is a really sugary sweet cottonpuff of a fluffy fic (except the bit at the starting) that's basically just some thought stream.
> 
> First time writing a YGO fic.  
> Note: Not beta-read or formatted (sorry, will fix the formatting once I have more time), so there will probably be some mistakes. Feel free to point it out to me!

_Later, Atem would wonder about how quickly and easily, stray little thoughts could drag him into a spiraling rabbit hole; how, before he could know which way was up, he’d become so far removed from where he had started, that he would end up lost and trapped inside his own mind._

  
It had been a long day of helping Yugi’s grandpa in the game shop and he is tired. Atem quickly changes into a loose pair of pants and one of Yugi’s sleeveless shirts that he finds draped on the back of the desk chair, before settling on the bed, waiting for his partner.

  
It’s his wristband, of all the things, - the dark leather one with silvery metal studs and edges - that catches his eyes and makes him stare at it, until it feels so utterly foreign to him…

  
And suddenly, he feels so distant from it, from the bed he is sitting on, the room he’s in, from the here and now and the present…… and then, it is a hot sunny day and all Atem can see is Mana's sheepish face as he taps a soot covered dent on his golden wrist cuff.

  
He is frowning - _why is he frowning, it is nothing but a small dent_ \- and Mana is starting to look anxious. It was just another harmless prank that went awry; Mana’s less than fine control of magic made something near them bounce madly until it struck his cuff and disappeared leaving a trail of smoke. Atem observes his friend sternly as she begins to apologize - _no stop, there was no reason for apologies; she is his friend! She needn’t be upset!_

  
He raises an eyebrow, as she contradicts herself, and then, Atem can hardly stop his lips from quirking at her frantic backtracking.

  
_(And he **knows** that she had caught on to his amusement, **remembers** that she had pouted at him for being amused at her expense till he had said something to make her smile - **but he cannot remember what.** )_

  
But she is getting more and more upset, and Atem desperately want to say something to cheer her up, anything to make her smile – _he misses her smile_ – and then he sees her blinking too much. His heart sinks, knowing he is making her sad, but all he does is stand there and thumb at the soot still stuck stubbornly to the dent in his golden cuff – _why is he making her sad? why can’t he make his friend smile, gods, wh_ -

"-em? Yami!" a voice calls out to him sounding concerned. A cool hand falls on his bare shoulder startling him from the past and jerking him all the way back to the present.

  
Atem blinks a bit, mind registering that he is in Yugi's room, sitting on the bed with blankets pooled around his waist. Cradled in his hands, is the leather wristband and he finds himself unconsciously thumbing the dark leather between two studs.

  
He closes his eyes. With a gusty exhale, he forces himself to drop the band and let his hands rest flat on the blanket beside his legs.

  
He hears a drawer being opened and knows that Yugi has put away the wristband inside it instead of leaving it on the tabletop as usual – and until he asks Yugi for it again, there would be no signs of the damn thing in the house; his partner knows him too well – and Atem feels like he is finally able to breathe again.

  
Yugi brushes a comforting hand over his shoulders and across his back; the coolness of it loosening the tensed muscles wherever it passes over his skin.

  
A familiar wave fondness and adoration crests in him and Atem reaches out to gently catch Yugi's hands in his own and bring them up to press a kiss at the center of each palm.

  
He hears Yugi breathe a soft “oh,” and glances up at him, just in time to spot his surprised expression shift into something more tender and delighted; a sweet, pleased thing and Atem tucks his own answering smile into his partner’s palm.

  
And Yugi is quick to climb on the bed, pausing to straddle him, his knees on either side of Atem's legs. He tilts his head to look up at Yugi when he slides his hands from Atem's grasp. But Yugi just cradles his face in his hands and kisses his hairline with a shy whisper of “love you,” staying there for a moment.

  
Something clenches sweetly in his chest, even as the rest of him feels light and floaty, and he scoots further to lie down on the bed, letting Yugi tumble away from him and switch the lights off from the other side of the bed. Atem turns to lift the covers up to help him crawl underneath the blankets and watches as Yugi stretches once then curls to face him, one arm tucked underneath the pillow.

  
And Atem’s breath catches and he just stares, held spellbound by Yugi.

  
Of all the smiles that Yugi has bestowed upon him, the one he gives in this moment is the rarest of all. Because it is a small, quiet thing; a genuinely content and loving smile that shows not just in the curl of his lips but also in the warmth of his kind amethyst eyes. And set aglow by the silvery light of the moon from the skylight, it is one that Atem forever treasures in his heart, knowing that the reason for the smile is just Yugi being happy to be with him.

  
And as always, it leaves him dazed and awed and so _so_ happy, and Atem is grateful to whoever it was that let him find himself with Yugi, because he knows that he won’t have to be alone and lost – whether in the shadows of the puzzle or trapped in his own thoughts, and that Yugi is always there for him, always there to ground him with a smile or a gentle touch or kind a voice calling out to him.

  
His face must show some of what he is thinking because Yugi reaches out to entwine their hands under the blankets and squeeze it reassuringly.

  
“What is it, Atem?” Yugi ask quietly, his eyes alight in curiosity.

  
In quiet moments like these, words fall short to describe what he feels and Atem's heart aches and aches and aches from feeling like its bursting with all the fierce love that he had for Yugi.

  
But there is nothing Atem can deny his partner, so he moves closer till their foreheads rests against each other, holds his gaze and tells him sincerely and honestly and earnestly, "I love you," and catches Yugi's smiling lips in a kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Please review and let me know what you liked and what you think could be improved!
> 
> ~FJB


End file.
